


First Sight

by novaartinoisaqueen



Series: ask fics [1]
Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23022910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novaartinoisaqueen/pseuds/novaartinoisaqueen
Summary: fancycollectivenerd asked:hello, could you write a fic in Adrian's POV when he first meets Nova at the parade?btw, your writing is beautiful and I love it so much!!
Relationships: Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium/Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden, Nova Artino | Nightmare/Adrian Everhart | Sketch, Oscar Silva | Smokescreen/Ruby Tucker | Red Assassin
Series: ask fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654693
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	First Sight

**Author's Note:**

> im moving most of my fics to here from tumblr to organize them better:) check me out on tumblr at nova-artino-is-a-queen

Downtown Gatlon was always busy on the day of the Renegade Parade.

This year, though, seemed busier than usual to Adrian Everhart. As he stood amongst the cheering crowd, he had to dodge kids that wore capes of every color. Adults were no better, dressed up as their favorite council members and being lulled by the street vendors selling hero-themed food and drinks. Adrian had to smile. The Renegade Parade was one of the few days of the year that ordinary people got to feel special, like superheroes. It was a day of triumph, celebrating the fall of the Anarchists and the Age of Anarchy, and regular people got to participate.

Oh, how he loved the Renegade Parade.

But Adrian wasn’t there to enjoy the festivities. No, as a Renegade, his job was to keep the public safe. His team was one of the many selected to act as patrol during the parade. They were in charge of making sure nothing suspicious was going on and that everyone would leave the parade happy. The rest of his teammates, Oscar, Danna, and Ruby, were positioned at other sections of the parade route. They stayed in contact with one another through their communication bands on their wrists, checking in every now and then so that the rest of their teammates would feel reassured

Adrian’s eyes scanned the crowd. He wished that he had observation skills like Danna. She could spot anything out of the ordinary within seconds. Adrian, on the other hand, was skilled most in combat and keeping people safe.

The excited yells of the crowd quickly disappeared, and was replaced with jeering. People’s fists punched the air in anger. Adrian turned his attention back to the parade route, seeing the first float turn the corner. He saw the giant balloon of the Atomic Brain, a long dead Anarchist. It was nowhere near what the actual Atomic Bomb had looked like, based on photos Adrian had seen before. The balloon was hideous and mocking, sending the crowd in hysterics with laughter.

Some more floats with dead Anarchists went by. The actors portraying them were done up in ridiculous costumes and makeup, and their acting was, for the most part, terrible. But that was the point, Adrian supposed. Anything to make the population laugh and point and not be afraid of the Anarchists.

When the actor playing the Anarchist known as Phobia revealed his swim shorts and pale stomach under his cloak, Adrian pulled his eyes away. He had to stay focused, no matter how entertaining the parade was. The corner of his lip twitched, the traitor.

_Pay attention, Everhart_.

Adrian checked his communication band. Oscar had sent a zoomed in photo of the Phobia actor, aiming right at his chest. With it came a cartoon face with heart eyes. Not two minutes later, Ruby sent a photo of a Queen Bee actress, mouth open in mid sob, with the message “who IS she? XOXO”. Adrian chuckled and raised the band to respond, about to tell them to quit it and pay attention, when Danna beat him to it.

_**Focus, idiots.**_

Oscar replied with a winking face.

Adrian shook his head at their banter. Ruby must’ve been positioned towards the beginning of the parade, for the Queen Bee float was just then making its way down the street. The actress on the float had makeup mixed with fake tears running down her face. She wailed about her bees and the unfairness of it all.

Adrian turned his shoulder to the float. He couldn’t allow himself to slip up. His dads trusted him, and he couldn’t let them down.

His eyes, roaming the excited citizens for any warning signs, landed on a girl. She was not cheering like everyone else. In fact, she didn’t seem to be all that happy to be there in the first place. Adrian pursed his lips, the slightest bit confused.

After staring at her for a solid ten seconds, he tore his eyes away. She wasn’t doing anything suspicious, just standing there with crossed arms.

He glanced at her again, against his will. Sunlight caught on her face, showing a fierce set in her jaw. They darted around the crowd, as if she was wary of other people. Cautious. Ready. He was instantly curious.

Her mouth moved, although barely. His eyes followed them for a moment, but Adrian shook his head, blushing at his own actions. He locked onto her again, unable to help himself. The corner of her mouth lifted in amusement, and it reflected in her bright eyes. Adrian’s breath skipped.

_Great skies_ , she was pretty, No, she was _beautiful_.

Her smile disappeared as soon as it came, replaced by a scowl that Adrian, weird as he thought, found more attractive. Her eyes hardened, and he followed her stare. Ah. The Ace Anarchy float had arrived. People were throwing food at him and shouting profane insults. Adrian figured the reason for the scowl was her dislike for the villain, like everyone else at the parade. He looked back to the girl, but saw that her expression was now schooled.

A familiar figure appeared next to her and purposefully crashed themselves into her. Adrian watched her stumble and catch the kid that fell into her, The kid in question was Magpie, a fellow Renegade that had been taken in after being found on the streets fending for herself. She could attract metals of all kind, including precious metals, which made her useful to the Renegades when they were cleaning up a crime scene and needed help locating important objects. Her gift also allowed for her to be a skilled thief.

For this reason, Adrian moved through the crowd, knowing what Magpie was up to. He told himself it wasn’t because he wanted an excuse to be closer to the girl. Partly.

He watched as Magpie slyly slipped something glittering into one of her pockets and ran in the direction of Adrian. She crashed into him with an oof, this time by accident. Before she could run off again, he reached down and grabbed Magpie’s ankle, flipping her upside down. She screamed at him indignantly, hitting his chest and arms to no avail. He had the slightest skip in his step as he walked over to the girl Magpie had robbed.

The girl’s face was frozen in shock. Adrian tried to ignore his increasing heartbeat as they made eye contact. He chose to give her a smile instead.

He stopped in front of her and turned his attention to Magpie, who had yet to give up her fight. “Give it back.”

“Put me down! Let me go!” But Adrian didn’t let go. His grip on her tightened in order to restrain her.

The girl finally spoke, and Adrian knew he could listen to her talk all day. “What are you doing? Put her down?”

His smile widened. “All right, Mini-Magpie, you’ve got three seconds before I send in a request to put you on probation.” He raised an eyebrow, contemplating. “Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure the janitorial crew has been needing some help lately…” he trailed off, grinning as Magpie huffed and finally stopped fighting.

Her voice was a low growl when she spoke. “I hate you.” Yet she reached into her pocket and pulled out what she had stolen from the girl: a bracelet. Magpie dropped the jewelry unceremoniously into the girl’s waiting palm. Immediately, the hardness from before returned to her face. She set her glare on Magpie, who returned it.

Adrian dropped Mapie. She rolled when she hit the ground and jumped back up. Good. Her training was showing up. Adrian set a stern look on her, eyes narrowed.

“I’m not going to report this, because i believe you are going to make better choices after this. Right, Magpie?”

The disgusted look Magpie gave him was almost comical. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. That would put him even lower on Magpie’s hate list. “You’re not my dad, Sketch,” she spit out before turning and stomping away. So graceful. 

“She’s just going to rob someone else, you know.” Adrian looked back at the girl, who was squinting at him. Her determined gaze was stronger up close.

Well, by flipping her and publicly humiliating her, we can hope it’ll make her rethink her options.” He looked back to the corner where Magpie had disappeared, then turned back to the girl, meeting her eyes. They sent a shockwave through his body. That he ignored, of course. “Do you want help with that?” He broke their eye contact, cheeks heating up, to look at her closed fist that harbored the bracelet.

“With what? The bracelet?”

Adrian nodded. Before he could tell himself what a bad idea this was, he reached forward and grabbed her hand. He peeled back her fingers and took the bracelet in his hands. He had expected her hand to be soft, but instead, it was rough. Calloused. It did not help in lowering his speeding heart. They were close enough that he could smell a perfume, although it’s old fashioned sweet scent didn’t fit her overall rigidness.

He turned the bracelet in his hands. He had never seen a metal like this before. Odd. “When I was a kid, my mom used to always ask me to help her with her brace-” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh. The clasp is broken.” He criticized himself, first for rambling about his mother to a complete stranger, unable to think of something cool to say to impress her, and second for pointing out the obvious that Magpie had broken the clasp.

The girl jolted. “That little brat!”

Adrian held back a chuckle. “It’s okay,” he reassured her. “I can fix it.”

“Fix it?” She reached forward, fingers snatching for the bracelet. He held it back before he could think about it. He cringed. That probably didn’t look good. “You don’t understand. That bracelet, it isn’t…it’s..” she stammered, flustered. Adrian found it cute.

“No, trust me.” He took out his marker from his back pocket and wrapped the bracelet around her wrist. “This wrist, right?” She froze under his touch. It took everything in his power not to look up at her face. _Remain cool, Everhart. You’ve talked to girls before_. But something about this was different than holding a conversation with Ruby or Danna.

He used his teeth to uncap the marker and drew a new clasp on her skin, connecting the bracelet ends. He blew softly across the inside of her wrist, although he knew he could have just as easily made the drawing come to life by touching it. But this way was cooler. He’d seen something similar in an old movie about a guy with elemental powers that only worked when he breathed. And it impressed girls.

“What about the stone?” he asked, tapping his marker against the empty space at the center of the bracelet.

“That was already missing.” The girl began to pull her hand back.

Adrian allowed himself to peak up at her face. She was staring at her bracelet, eyebrows furrowed. It wasn’t a look of surprise, to Adrian’s dismay. “Want me to draw one anyway?”

Her eyes met his for a split second. Then it was over, and she pulled her hand out of his.

“No,” she said roughly, then added, as if realizing her blunt answer, “No, thank you.”

Adrian opened his mouth, wanting to talk to her for just a little longer. He decided against it. Clearly she was uncomfortable, and with the way her eyes kept darting around the crowd, maybe she was in a hurry. “Okay.” He put his marker back into the pocket.

He watched her move her hand around, following the bracelet’s movement. When it didn’t break, he couldn’t help the pride from overcoming his senses a bit, showing through his smile.

“Renegade?” Suspicion laced her tone, which surprised Adrian more. Suspicion, and not, he didn’t know. Wonder? Amazement? Normally, when citizens were in the presence of prodigies, they were either disgusted or filled with admiration. Then again, when Adrian first saw her, he had a feeling she wasn’t a normal person. He couldn’t figure out why.

He started to respond, but was interrupted by the crowd, who had burst into applause and cheers. Fireworks went up and exploded from the new float, which carried the five Council members. Adrian saw his dad’s waving and goofing off for the crowd’s amusement.

He pursed his lips at the spectacle. “Looks like the headliners have arrived,” he said quietly. He had gotten used to the fame of his dad’s, which extended to himself as well. It was boring, in all honesty.

Out of the corner of his eye, Adrian saw the girl jump. “Roger.” Roger? He turned back to her, confused, then said rather stupidly, “Adrian, actually.”

She stepped back from him, eyes wide. There was a purposeful glint in them, but also something new, so small that Adrian doubted he saw it correctly. Fear. “I have to go,” she got out shakily. Adrian reached for her hand, wanting to at least catch her name. _Or her number_.

What was going on with him?

Their fingers barely brushed before she was gone, pushing her way through the cheering crowd.

“You’re welcome,” he called to her back. He regretted how desperate he sounded the second it left his mouth, but thankfully, she didn’t turn around. Maybe she hadn’t heard him.

Adrian watched the spot where she had disappeared for what seemed like forever, when a notification from his communication band brought him back to reality. It was an audio message from Danna.

_**“We have a problem. Nightmare spotted on the building left of west station. Wait…now she’s on top of west station. Holy crap, that girl can jump…not the point. She’s got a duffle bag, though. Not a good sign. You guys know the drill.“**_

West station. That was where Adrian was positioned. Or, pretty close to where he was. He looked up at the rooftops behind him, and sure enough, he saw the hooded head of the villain, Nightmare, moving.

A hand went to his chest. Maybe now was the time to reveal the Sentinel, his creation.

“Prepare to be defeated, Nightmare,” he muttered, then pushed his way through the crowd to west station. 


End file.
